Women's Basketball Invitational

The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) is a women's college basketball tournament created in 2009 by Sport Tours. The inaugural tournament occurred at the conclusion of the 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. Selections for the WBI are announced on Selection Monday. Prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the field for the WBI consisted of a 16-team, single elimination divided into two regions with 8 seeded teams in each.[1] The current format consists of 8 teams, all of which are guraranteed 3 games. Teams are picked based on NET, record, conference standings, end of year performance, and quality wins and losses, after the NCAA, WBIT, and WNIT fields are filled.[2]

Not to be confused with Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament.
Women's Basketball Invitational
Current season, competition or edition:
2024 Women's Basketball Invitational
SportBasketball
Founded2009
FounderSport Tours International
First season2009–10
No. of teams8
Country United States
Most recent
champion(s)		Cal Baptist (2023)
Most titles
Related
competitions		Women's National Invitation Tournament
Official websiteWebsite

Teams in the WBI traditionally competed on the home court of the higher seed; recent tournaments have been held at a single site. Teams not making the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament or Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) are eligible for the WBI.

Although the WBI shares a similar name with the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and fills a similar role (a postseason tournament outside the auspices of the NCAA and NIT/WBIT tournaments), the two competitions are operated by separate organizations and are unrelated except for the coincidental name. In 2024, the CBI and WBI were scheduled to be co-located at the same venue, Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, but the WBI was paused. The tournament will resume in 2025.

Champions
Year Champion Runner-up Venue and city†
2010 Appalachian State79 Memphis71 Holmes Convocation CenterBoone, NC
2011 UAB68 Cal State Bakersfield60 Bartow ArenaBirmingham, AL
2012 Minnesota88 Northern Iowa74 Williams ArenaMinneapolis, MN
2013 Detroit73 McNeese State62 Calihan HallDetroit, MI
2014 UIC73 Stephen F. Austin64 UIC PavilionChicago, IL
2015 Louisiana52 Siena50 Earl K. Long GymnasiumLafayette, LA
2016 87 Weber State85
2017 Rice74 UNC Greensboro62 Tudor FieldhouseHouston, TX
2018 Yale54 Central Arkansas50 Farris CenterConway, AR
2019 Appalachian State (2)76 North Texas59 Holmes CenterBoone, NC
2020 No tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 Cleveland State67 Portland64 William Exum CenterFrankfort, KY
2022 Saint Mary's80 Cleveland State73 Clive M. Beck Center Lexington, KY
2023 Cal Baptist63 New Mexico State61 Clive M. Beck Center Lexington, KY
2024 Tournament not held.[3]

† Through the 2019 edition, games were played at campus sites; the championship game venue is listed. Starting with the 2021 edition, the entire tournament is played at a single site.

Appalachian State
UAB
Minnesota
Detroit
UIC
Louisiana
Rice
Yale
Cleveland State
Saint Mary's
WBI Champions
– 2 championships, – 1 championship

See also

References
  1. "WBI Frequently Asked Questions". PrestoSports. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  2. "WBI Selection Process". WBI. PrestoSports. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  3. https://twitter.com/PostseasonWBI/status/1769866150047842404
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.